
Fearless and Free
A Memoir
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Narrated by:
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Anam Zafar
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Sophie R. Lewis
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Ijeoma Oluo
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Jade Wheeler
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Quentin Bruno
About this listen
A MOST ANTICIPATED BOOK OF THE YEAR: The TODAY Show, Vanity Fair, Financial Times, W Magazine, Oprah Daily, LibraryReads
Praised as “funny and witty” by Kwame Alexander on the TODAY show, now published in the US for the first time, Fearless and Free is the memoir of the “trailblazing” (People), rule-breaking, one-of-a-kind Josephine Baker, the iconic dancer, singer, spy, and Civil Rights activist.
“A gorgeous, captivating gem of a memoir… Josephine Baker’s as enthralling on the page as she was on the stage.”—Abbott Kahler, New York Times bestselling author of Eden Undone and Sin in the Second City
After stealing the spotlight as a teenaged Broadway performer during the height of the Harlem Renaissance, Josephine then took Paris by storm, dazzling audiences across the Roaring Twenties. In her famous banana skirt, she enraptured royalty and countless fans—Ernest Hemingway and Pablo Picasso among them. She strolled the streets of Paris with her pet cheetah wearing a diamond collar. With her signature flapper bob and enthralling dance moves, she was one of the most recognizable women in the world.
When World War II broke out, Josephine became a decorated spy for the French Résistance. Her celebrity worked as her cover, as she hid spies in her entourage and secret messages in her costumes as she traveled. She later joined the Civil Rights movement in the US, boycotting segregated concert venues, and speaking at the March on Washington alongside Martin Luther King Jr.
First published in France in 1949, her memoir will now finally be published in English. At last we can hear Josephine in her own voice: charming, passionate, and brave. Her words are thrilling and intimate, like she’s talking with her friends over after-show drinks in her dressing room. Through her own telling, we come to know a woman who danced to the top of the world and left her unforgettable mark on it.
©2025 Originally published in French by Éditions Corrêa in France as Les Mémoires De Joséphine Baker by Marcel Sauvage, in 1949. Reissued in French by Éditions Phébus, in 2022. First English language edition simultaneously published with Vintage UK, a division of Penguin Random House Group, in 2025 Copyright © 2022 by Éditions Phébus / Libella, Paris. Translation copyright © 2025 by Anam Zafar and Sophie Lewis. Foreword copyright © 2025 by Ijeoma Oluo (P)2025 Penguin AudioListeners also enjoyed...
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Critic reviews
“Josephine Baker certainly shook things up. This memoir demonstrates—vividly—the pleasure she took in doing it.”—The Washington Post
“[A] trailblazing performer and activist’s book… Much of her work still resonates today.”—People
“This is Josephine Baker's story in her own words… Her voice is very strong in this story, and she is the best kind of person to read about. She is very funny and witty, humble and kind, and extremely eccentric.”—Kwame Alexander, TODAY
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- Unabridged
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Books can seduce you. They can, Sarah Chihaya believes, annihilate, reveal, and provoke you. And anyone incurably obsessed with books understands this kind of unsettling literary encounter. Sarah calls books that have this effect “Life Ruiners”. Her Life Ruiner, Toni Morrison’s The Bluest Eye, became a talisman for her in high school when its electrifying treatment of race exposed Sarah’s deepest feelings about being Japanese American in a predominantly white suburb of Cleveland.
By: Sarah Chihaya
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MOVE: The Untold Story of an American Tragedy
- By: Curtis Bryant, Kevin Arbouet
- Narrated by: Tariq Trotter
- Length: 5 hrs and 19 mins
- Original Recording
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This searing audio documentary brings listeners deep inside the unforgettable story of MOVE, gaining unprecedented access to surviving MOVE members, elected officials from the era, eyewitnesses, and historians to create an indelible portrait of an American tragedy.
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Balanced Examination of History
- By James Peacock on 08-14-24
By: Curtis Bryant, and others
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I Will Scream to the World
- My Story. My Fight. My Hope for Girls Everywhere.
- By: Jaha Marie Dukureh
- Narrated by: Jaha Marie Dukureh
- Length: 8 hrs
- Unabridged
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This extraordinary memoir details the monumental journey of one young Gambian woman from survivor of FGM and forced child marriage, to global activist and political leader who became UN Women's first Goodwill Ambassador for Africa, one of Time Magazine’s 100 Most Influential People, and among the youngest people nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize.
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A Beautiful Human: A Great Activist, But First, A Beautiful Human.
- By Ndey Mariam. on 02-27-25
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Harlem Rhapsody
- By: Victoria Christopher Murray
- Narrated by: Robin Miles
- Length: 15 hrs and 5 mins
- Unabridged
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In 1919, a high school teacher from Washington, D.C arrives in Harlem excited to realize her lifelong dream. Jessie Redmon Fauset has been named the literary editor of The Crisis. The first Black woman to hold this position at a preeminent Negro magazine, Jessie is poised to achieve literary greatness. But she holds a secret that jeopardizes it all. W. E. B. Du Bois, the founder of The Crisis, is not only Jessie’s boss, he’s her lover. And neither his wife, nor their fourteen-year-age difference can keep the two apart.
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Horrible Representation
- By Kwana Nicholas on 04-05-25
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Memorial Days
- A Memoir
- By: Geraldine Brooks
- Narrated by: Geraldine Brooks
- Length: 4 hrs and 56 mins
- Unabridged
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Many cultural and religious traditions expect those who are grieving to step away from the world. In contemporary life, we are more often met with red tape and to-do lists. This is exactly what happened to Geraldine Brooks when her partner of more than three decades, Tony Horwitz–just sixty years old and, to her knowledge, vigorous and healthy–collapsed and died on a Washington, D. C. sidewalk.
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Uninspired, mediocre writing.
- By C. Tyler on 03-04-25
By: Geraldine Brooks
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The Sable Cloak
- By: Gail Milissa Grant
- Narrated by: Karen Chilton, Murphy Lorenzo Applin Jr
- Length: 9 hrs and 11 mins
- Unabridged
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Jordan Sable, a prosperous undertaker turned political boss, has controlled the Black vote in St. Louis for decades. Sara, his equally formidable wife, runs the renowned funeral establishment that put the Sable name on the map. Together they have pushed through obstacles in order to create a legacy for their children. When tragedy bursts their carefully constructed empire of dignity and safety, the family rallies around an unconventional solution. But at what cost?
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This was a beautiful story!
- By Ely B on 04-10-25
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Cleavage
- Men, Women, and the Space Between Us
- By: Jennifer Finney Boylan
- Narrated by: Gabra Zackman, Jennifer Finney Boylan
- Length: 8 hrs and 10 mins
- Unabridged
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What is the difference between men and women? Jennifer Finney Boylan, bestselling author of She’s Not There and co-author of Mad Honey with Jodi Picoult, examines the divisions—as well as the common ground—between the genders, and reflects on her own experiences, both difficult and joyful, as a transgender American.
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Someday there may be no gender
- By stacey a shapiro on 03-26-25
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A More Perfect Party
- The Night Shirley Chisholm and Diahann Carroll Reshaped Politics
- By: Juanita Tolliver
- Narrated by: Juanita Tolliver
- Length: 6 hrs and 2 mins
- Unabridged
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In 1972, New York Representative Shirley Chisholm broke the ice in American politics when she became the first Black woman to run for president of the United States. Chisholm left behind a coalition-building model personified by a once-in-an-era Hollywood party hosted by legendary actress and singer Diahann Carroll, and attended by the likes of Huey P. Newton, Barbara Lee, Berry Gordy, David Frost, Flip Wilson, Goldie Hawn and others. In A More Perfect Party, MSNBC political analyst Juanita Tolliver presents a path to people-centered politics through the lens of this soiree.
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Shirley Chisholm and Diahann Carroll
- By SAOT66 on 01-15-25
By: Juanita Tolliver
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Pure Innocent Fun
- Essays
- By: Ira Madison III
- Narrated by: Ira Madison III
- Length: 6 hrs and 51 mins
- Unabridged
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In Pure Innocent Fun, Madison explores the key cultural moments that inspired his career as a critic and guided his coming of age as a Black gay man in Milwaukee. In this hilarious, full-throttle trip through the ’90s and 2000s, he recounts learning about sex from Buffy the Vampire Slayer; facing the most heartbreaking election of his youth (not George W. Bush’s win, but Jennifer Hudson losing American Idol); and how never getting his driver’s license in high school made him just like Cher Horowitz in Clueless: “a virgin who can’t drive.”
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Relatable! Great word choice! Hilarious!
- By Anonymous User on 05-02-25
By: Ira Madison III
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Belle Greene
- By: Alexandra Lapierre, Tina Kover - translator
- Narrated by: Ja'Air Bush
- Length: 19 hrs and 1 min
- Unabridged
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New York in the 1900s. A young girl fascinated by rare books defies all odds and becomes the director of one of the country’s most prestigious private libraries. Flamboyant, brilliant, beautiful, Belle is among New York society’s most sought after intellectuals. She also hides a secret. Although she looks white, she is African American, the daughter of a famous black activist who sees her desire to hide her origins as the consummate betrayal. Torn between history’s imperatives and the freedom to belong to the society of her choosing, Belle’s drama is one that resonates today.
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The Absolute Go To for Belle's Life
- By Carmen Gibson on 09-07-22
By: Alexandra Lapierre, and others
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Pretty
- A Memoir
- By: KB Brookins
- Narrated by: KB Brookins
- Length: 6 hrs and 10 mins
- Unabridged
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By a prize-winning young Black trans writer of outsized talent, a fierce and disciplined memoir about queerness, masculinity, and race, Pretty is as much a powerful and tender love letter as it is a call for change.
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Love
- By Brie on 02-11-25
By: KB Brookins
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Gather Me
- A Memoir in Praise of the Books That Saved Me
- By: Glory Edim
- Narrated by: Glory Edim
- Length: 8 hrs and 5 mins
- Unabridged
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For Glory Edim, that “friend of my mind” is books. Edim, who grew up in Virginia to Nigerian immigrant parents, started the popular Well-Read Black Girl book club at age thirty, eventually reaching a community of half a million readers. But her own love of books stretches far back. Edim’s father moved back to Nigeria while she was still a child, marking the beginning of a series of traumatic changes and losses for her family. What became an escape, a safe space, and a second home for her and her brother was their local library.
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This book was EVERYTHING! 🖤✨️
- By Ms. Reece on 02-10-25
By: Glory Edim
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Too Much
- By: Cindy Lee Neighbors MD
- Narrated by: Rachael Doolen
- Length: 8 hrs and 35 mins
- Unabridged
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In TOO MUCH, a young woman embarks on a journey of self-discovery and resilience as she navigates the challenges of mental health, addiction, and systemic dysfunction within the demanding field of military medicine. From the sunny shores of Honolulu to the sterile halls of military hospitals, Cindy Lee Neighbors' life takes an unexpected turn as she grapples with the complexities of trauma, addiction, and a system that seems designed to break her.
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Unmasking the Ideal
- By Logan Hyde on 03-21-25
What listeners say about Fearless and Free
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- AH
- 02-24-25
Extraordinary lady
Loved the story. Excellent narration. Wished it went on to tell us about her later life.
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- Adie
- 04-09-25
Oh la la!
It’s her story, told in her way with I guess her or co-authors liberty of inclusion and exclusion. Eh, I love her so even with some of her unsavory moments. She’s complex. I’ve learned multiple versions of her life, so the wholes are filled in for me. This book is fragmented but it gives an insight into her.
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- AppleCedAR
- 02-15-25
A incongruous mess
Ibe been looking forward to getting to know Josephine Baker, but the story presented here is so fragmented I could not finish.
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